May 21, 2009

Why did it happen? The Daily News has some theories. There's also a poll — where "Adam's look didn't appeal to Middle America" is currently winning, with "Adam's sexuality played a role" coming in second. Isn't "Adam's sexuality played a role" just a blunter way of saying "Adam's look didn't appeal to Middle America."

I think there may have been a sense among many of the hardcore voters — and they're the ones who matter, what with almost 100 million votes on the finale — that the American Idol should be a good role model for kids. In the final comparison between Kris and Adam, Kris Allen was the good boy whom they could picture as their own son or their high school boyfriend. That's the nature of the show.

Some of the voters surely thought that the idol, the role model, shouldn't be (or seem) gay, but I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about it. Adam Lambert did extraordinarily well and was embraced and eagerly loved. I didn't see any nasty homophobia on line that was about trying to make him lose — or win (there was no equivalent of the "vote for the worst" campaigns that in previous years have raged among the show's haters). And Kris was really sweet and natural standing alongside Adam week after week and talking about what good friends they are and so forth. That has been part of his role modeling.

IN THE COMMENTS: 2 gay males — Treacle and Palladian — make the same point: They prefer the Kris type. [Is Treacle gay? He hasn't be explicit.]

Henry is right. you can dislike the look without saying anything about him being gay. Seriously, what would be "looking gay" anyway? I thought of Lambert as looking more goth than gay, which i personally find irritating. By comparison Kris was the guy next door, as Seacrest said putting his finger right on it.

I wanted kris to win because i found lambert annoying when singing fast, but I have agreed with Burgess' analysis for about a week now about the demographic advantage Kris had, which means that Kris' victory is not a victory for quality per se, except in a coincidental way.

But to pretend that America just can't stand gay people is a bit much. How many songs by gay artists are considered classics. There are tons by the band Queen. Everyone, straight, gay or otherwise camps it up to YMCA. And then there is about half the hits by Elton John. Hell there are millions of American kids who grow up singing, "The Circle of Life" and so on. The idea that Americans have this unabiding hatred of homosexuality that means that they will hate a good song because the singer is gay is just crap. Those claiming it is a gay issue remind me of Jennine Garofolo claiming that the tea parties were racist, because apparently Obama is so perfect that anyone who doesn't like his policies must feel that way for irrational reasons. it is cheap, unfair, and contrary to the facts.

For most gays, it comes down to this: it's 4 a.m. at the Dock and you know you're not going home alone. Kris: thin, handsome and most likely disease free. Adam: you're pretty sure that he has love handles (all that glam rock and never without a shirt?), and you know he's spending an hour taking off the makeup so he doesn't mess up the good pillow cases.Kris wins every time (but in the event he's already taken, Adam will do in a pinch).

Adam had the early lead (a la David Archuleta last year) but momentum, picking up voters from eliminated contestants and a four hour voting period which left plenty of time for repeat call ins, makes Kris' victory not that shocking.

I think Althouse posting that graduation video of Adam hurt him as well.

A commenter on the NYDN says that more than a third of the votes cast came from Arkansas. If that's correct then you have your explanation right there: Kris' home state flooded the ballot.

Really? Arkansas only has about 3 million people. I have a hard time believing they cast 33 million votes.

Adam is great, but Kris appealed to more groups of dialers.OH! Here's the one piece of advice I have for next year's Idol wannabees-- cover up that big tattoo. You might like it, but you're going to take it home early.

I don't vote, but my opinion is that records by Kris will sell better. I did buy A Day at the Races and A Night at the Opera back in the day, and also Bicycle Race (or was it Fat Bottomed Girls?) -- but listening to Freddie Mercury's falsetto loses its WOW impact with time. I prefer a quiet introspective singer. Maybe America does too.

That said, I was absolutely thrilled when they started singing a Queen song last night, because I knew Adam would totally knock it out of the park, and he did.

Either kid winning was justice served in this case, is my opinion. I don't see why American Commentators can't arrive at that same conclusion. Probably because only manufactured controversy sells papers, generates blog traffic, and/or interests readers.

And from the few comments sections I have read in various places this morning, it's already turned into "fucking Middle American Palin Republican church bigot freaks stole this from our hero!!!1", which is becoming quite a tiresome narrative.

I'm not sure why this Adam Lambert ( I never saw a picture of him until yesterday) is suddenly the "gay hero". From what I've read it appears that he did everything he could to hide, ignore and deny his sexual orientation throughout the course of this program. I have no problem with this, but it also does not give him the right to become "designated oppressed gay victim".

And another thing... KISS?!? WTF?! KISS is not, I repeat not cool, hip, glam, or in any way appealing to gay people. Kiss is a couple of rich, sweaty old Jews in clown make-up. And that's fine, but as I said, appealing, sexy or gay it is not.

In this household, the 16 y.o. boy didn't like Adam because of his "emo" hair. The 14 y.o. girl preferred Danny, and viewed Adam as better than Kris. She hadn't heard speculation about Adam's sexual orientation -- or pretended that she hadn't heard those rumors.

A friend of mine(gay as an English picnic basket) put it best yesterday on his Facebook status:

"[...] doesn't really care WHO wins Idol; both are talented and seem to have worked hard. Kris is super cute and bite-sized (always a plus) - Adam, gay and all but think because of that the fame may go to his head and he'd end up like an overdosed, bloated Elvis one day.[...]."

I didn't watch all the deal, but only the video posted here, and some other clips from all over. Lambert has seemed full of himself already. If you doubt it, watch that high school graduation video again.

If it were me making this post, and it's not, it's you, then I would have put the scare quotes around the word upset and not around the words American Idol.

It is not possible to have an upset in a race that is close to the end, IMHO. But what do I know? I haven't seen a single episode.

In other news, unrelated to American Idol, this Macbook is skipping around again, selecting large chunks of text at will and deleting with the next keystroke, requiring command/z to undo, and that's flat pissing me off. I'm very close to tossing the little bastard out the window. This fury causes me to bake sourdough bread instead in order to recover my good nature and knit my abused nerves.

You don't win AI by having the most fans. You win by having the most intense fans -- within the category of people who express their love by repeated phone dialing.

I loved Adam, but I never even voted once.

Once again, proving the point: the American music industry is a slave to the whims of 13-year old girls everywhere. That's the portion of the audience that clogs the phone lines and spams text message votes. It is the type of thing that anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time with an FM radio in the past decade should have realized already...

...and that's one of the major reasons why I do not understand all the attention that Idol gets from people outside that one demographic.

I thought Adam deserved to win because of three performances: Ring of Fire, Mad World, and Tracks of My Tears. Interestingly, none of those songs were hard rock, although Adam was presented as a rocker. I agreed with Simon that his second performance of Mad World was not as good as the first, which was just awesome. I watched those three performances on YouTube quite a few times, which I'd never done before for any other Idol contestant.

I thought the results show last night was outstanding, with all the talent they had lined up, and was well worth what I paid for the price of admission. I have newfound respect for Kara Laguardia (or whatever her name is). In watching the Queen performance, I mused that maybe Brian May is in the market for a lead singer, and Adam would be a perfect fit.

Yes, Adam played down the gay, but my wife also observed that Kris never mentioned his wife in all his interviews, and the show studiously avoided mentioning the little fact that Kris is married.

Adam is a good singer, probably a better singer than Kris. Certainly a stronger singer. Two things contributed to his loss despite that. One is his tendency to over-screech. Just because he can hit those high notes where nobody else can go, it doesn't ipso facto mean that he should do it in every song he sings. Which he did. Several times throughout the season judges and at least one mentor cautioned him about that, but he didn't pay attention. The second thing that contributed to his loss is the way he sought out and embraced an offbeat, edgy, avant garde singing style and image. Some of that is fine, even immensely valuable. But wall-to-wall it becomes a deficit. To get broad-based support he needed to show that he at least had the capacity to go mainstream and be traditional. But he never showed that.

2 gay males — Treacle and Palladian — make the same point: They prefer the Kris type.Um - except it is not a beauty contest, it is a talent contest. And Adam was clearly more talented - not even close (at least based on my five minute scan of youtube mind you)

I don't really care who won, and I'm certainly not surprised Adam lost. In fact, I could have told you yesterday that Adam had zero chance. America is a very homophobic country, and it is IMPOSSIBLE for a gay person to win a show like American Idol, no matter now talented or good-looking they are. If you want an example of homophobia, just look at Ann's commenters, the majority of whom are blatantly homophobic. Take Chip Ahoy, for example, who admitted that he dumped his gay "friends" solely because they were gay, and that he would never choose to associate with gay people again.

Anyway, it's a dumb show. I don't watch it. And I'm sure this Adam guy will handle it fine, unlike that dumb cunt Miss California who tried to play the victim card.

I don't even watch TV. Maybe 30 hours a year, and that's entirely Bloomberg television. The last show I watched was 24, but they don't have it in on cable where I live, so I rent the DVD's when they come out.

"Well, there was the little incident where Danny Gokey's preacher twittered (!) to a huge congregation that they should vote for Kris because "We need a believer to represent!""

Those filthy Christianist bastards. First they outlawed abortion, then they made my kids pray in public schools. Why can't they spread their love above and beyond their own little group? You never hear about black people or gay people preferring to vote for or spend their money with people like them.

"I think there may have been a sense among many of the hardcore voters — and they're the ones who matter, what with almost 100 million votes on the finale — that the American Idol should be a good role model for kids."

I don't agree. Fans maybe but not voters. I think the hardcore voters are 13 years old and vote repeatedly for their fave. When I was 13 I was in love with Mick Jagger, and I didn't care if he was a role model or not, LOL. I have never voted yet I enjoy the show a lot.

Confessions of a voter...I appreciated Adam's showmanship (he was never boring) but I knew I'd be more inclined to buy something Kris put out. I fairly regularly attempted to vote for Kris for about 3 hours and did not get through very often. It would have been impossible for the folks of AK to have been responsible for 1/3 of the votes. Also, because Adam is such an experienced polished performer, he just didn't seem the embodiment of what Idol's winner is all about.

I only watched Idol a couple of times but when I did, it was clear the judges were in the tank for Adam. That annoyed me so much that if I had voted, it would have been for Kris, as much for his talent as to send the judges a message (which I think America did quite effectively last night).

downtownlad : except it is not a beauty contest, it is a talent contest.

I think the point is: if there are gay men who don't prefer the "gay" contestant, why should we call the people who voted for Kris homophobic?

And Adam was clearly more talented

I think Kris was more talented. Adam had a great range but he never learned how to sing emotionally. It became a crutch. Also Kris was more likeable and likeability is important.

On the night of the vote they had each contestant tell about their childhood. Kris' story made him look adorable, Adam's made him look like a brat. Hell, Adam even said he was a brat and at that point I realized he still was!

caryn: I think you're correct. Not only did they obviously promote Adam at nearly every chance, they criticized Allison, who was younger and less experienced, for being... well... less mature and inexperienced. You can't read too much into Randy and Paula, who are incoherent, and it appears Kara, as well, but Simon was very consistent in preferring Adam.

Shouldn't we at least entertain the notion that maybe more people thought Kris sang better?

Most people watching the show aren't music critics. I remember not particularly liking the Middle Eastern version of "Ring of Fire," saying so here, and being called a philistine. I couldn't recognize "talent" or something. All I saw was a song butchered for shock value.

OK, maybe I'm uncultured, but my vote counts the same, yes?

I have this silly idea that talent is as talent does, and just being talented matters fuck all if you don't use it in a way that people actually like.

Adam improved after that, but I don't think his vast talent was self evident to everyone. Obviously he got to the finals, so he still had a lot of appeal. I think the risks he took were necessary to get him there. Still, I think he was a little too strange to win. And I don't mean just his sexuality.

The comment that the Danny votes had to go somewhere I suspect is dead on.

It would have been impossible for the folks of AK to have been responsible for 1/3 of the votesIt’s actually AR, and they said on the news that 38 million calls were made to AI numbers, so I kind of think that doesn’t equal votes, and there are people saying that’s not true anyway, so who the hell knows. But we did vote like crazy for Kris here in Arkansas. We’re a small state, but we rally. I think Adam has a kick ass voice, but I’m not sure what kind of album he’d make, and that becomes important at the end.

I only watched Idol a couple of times but when I did, it was clear the judges were in the tank for Adam. That annoyed me so much that if I had voted, it would have been for KrisThis is the reaction I always have, even if Kris weren’t a hometown boy.

I'm sure there was, in part, a backlash against the overpraising of the judges and how they kept declaring Adam the winner. I suspect that Adam actually lost the total vote several weeks ago, but the producers put in the fix and got him through by creative recounting and rejection of some votes.

* * *

BTW, why do people think he and Kris were okay during the Queen set? They were both horribly out of key, off the rhythm and forgot the words! They probably had very little rehearsal and were tired, but it wasn't great. (On the other hand, Adam was very good in the KISS set UNTIL he started his screaming.)

Finally, one more jab at the production quality of American Idol. It's horrible. The audio mixing last night was dreadful. They over amplified everything. I found it very aggravating and exhausting to listen to. And they still went over!

You thought Treacle was gay based upon his comments on Justice Roberts and Ginsburg? I assumed he (it has to be a he, because no woman other than Ann Coulter would refer to Ginsburg as a used up dish rag) was the reincarnation of Norman Mailer.

I think it's pretty sad to believe that people are homophobic and reacting to the gay and not to that skanky-emo-goth thing Adam has going.

And it's pretty sad that Huff-Po today is all about how winning AI is a Christian Conspiracy. Egad.

And why can't I look on You Tube and find the performances for AI? I found "Adam Lambert sings Beth" but other than that it was all audio recordings of one song and a still photo over and over.

I wish I could have heard Kris sing "Beth". Who sang that song anyway, Peter? I was the right age, the exact right age, and that was a swoon inducing song to a teenage girl. Nothing could possibly have been more romantic than the heartache in that song.

And I have to say... Adam has a beautiful voice... and he butchered that song. Why? Because instead of swooning in response to the heart rending separation from "Beth" I was thinking, "Wow, Adam has a beautiful voice." Unfortunately there was no heart there to rend. When Peter sang it, even if on some level you knew it was just a song, my friends and I still believed that there was a "Beth" someplace and it was all real as could be.

Was Adam missing a lover? Was he regretting the time he was forced to be away? Could we imagine him on the road, performing, and even noticing that it (the "sound") wasn't working?

Agreed, Kris sucked up Danny's voters, as Danny would have done if he'd been final two, so Adam really didn't have a chance of winning the vote.

Kris's clean Gene image is an easy sell in the AI crapola aftermarket, so of course the producers played down his marriage. Adam's emo-goth look would have been a challenge to merchandise, gay or not. Adams dramatic strengths worked against him while Kris's tepid personality played as wholesome.

Kris will put out an album that will be a hot download for 15 minutes, ala David Cook, perhaps form a band that tours briefly and then fade into obscurity.

Adam can take many paths, reinvent himself, Kris not so much, his market demographic is limited to a sector with the attention span of a tweet.

I so agree with Palladian - KISS? WTF? KISS?! - What were the producers smoking? Almost worst than Botoxed Rod Stewart in a plaid dinner jacket, Steve Martin on a fucking banjo (clearly the oddest set on AI to date), the so over Lionel Ritchie, the Santana way-back lame-o machine and pathetic Queen remnants. Thank the gods for Fergie's thighs, tivo and fast forward.

Althouse is exactly right. This Adam lost because America is homophobic crap is ludicrous. The man came in second. He beat out 10 presumably straight contestants based solely on American votes. His boyfriend regularly sat in the audience with his parents. How far do you have to twist that to end up at America hates the gays!?

No, he didn't go in to great detail about his sexuality or shove his relationship in front of the camera. But neither did any of the presumably straight contestants. I don't even know which of them are married, in relationships, etc.

How far would he have gotten if his sexuality had gotten significant airtime? I don't know. I would like to know, though. I suspect it would be much farther than some think.

ok, I'm finally going to comment on this after trying and failing to post two times. My MacBook is at the Apple store being fixed and all I have is my iPhone, which has caused me to accidentally delete it twice.

First, I don't care that much that he didn't win. If "No Boundaries" is the winner's single, that to me is a punishment. If he can't get a good career going after being the runner up on American Idol, maybe he doesn't deserve to be a star. But he will, I think. He's better off. As for whether homophobia played a role, of course it did. And it's a little coincidental that he happened to lose to the least talented vocalist ever to win the show.

By the way, what is with Kris Allen's face? He's really cute when he's just being normal, and then when he starts singing he just turns into a Gremlin. If I were on a computer, I would find a picture of him singing to illustrate this point. Shouldn't be hard to find.

Finally, what I really wanted to say was this. I'm extremely disappointed by Adam as a gay man. When the show started and I saw the YouTube clip of him essentially admitting that he's gay, and all the pictures that seemed to show him as pretty out and proud, I was excited about the possibility of having the first openly gay American Idol finalist. As the show started, he gender neutralized the lyrics of songs, which I saw as an indication that even if he didn't say it on the show, he would at least be out in the long run. Then he sang the word "woman" in Whole Lotta Love, which basically declared that he was closeted on the show. And now that the show is over, he has been asked directly more than once by reporters if he's gay, and he will not answer. On ew.com right now there is an interview (I'd link if I could, but you should be able to find it) where the reporter asks him if he'd like to put the gay speculation to rest and he says essentially, no I think it's more "interesting" to let people speculate. Boring! Now he's just another lame closeted gay celebrity like Clay Aiken or Ricky Martin who embarrassingly opts out of gay questions, just in the interest of staying in the mainstream, and out of fear. I have no respect for that at all. You're not on the show anymore, stop being a pussy! People ALREADY know you're gay and have ALREADY confirmed in huge numbers that they love you anyway, and you STILL won't come out! That is soooooo pathetic. And that after making such a big deal about how out there and true to yourself you are. No one better sing his praises when he finally does come out. I'm sick of celebrities being treated as courageous when they wait until after they have millions of dollars and are past their prime to come out. Adam Lambert blew his chance to do something semi-groundbreaking, everyone was ready for it, he still didn't do it, and now we're supposed to give him credit for it anyway (I say this only because multiple media sources, like Fox News and EW, talked about him being potentially the first openly gay Idol). The whole way he handled it, particularly since losing the show, has been a negative, not a positive, for the gay community.

Geez, Cohen, it's really too bad that your phone wasn't as broken as your MacBook. You are sooooo, sooooo upset because some guy named Adam on a meaningless TV show ruined your day when he competed based on his talent rather than his sexual orientation. Yep, that's certainly a ball-buster.

I miss the days when your private business was exactly that - PRIVATE. Where does it say that people have to share their personal business with the rest of the world? So a man (or woman) who doesn't want to discuss their "sexual" orientation should have their membership in the gay/lesbian club revoked? Are homosexuals really lacking in role models? Seems to me that Adam Lambert is an incredible talent who wants to be judged on his talent as an individual, not a member of a group.

The fact of the matter is that I think Adam is an incredible showman - visually he had no peers on the Idol stage. I enjoyed his performances, especially since I am old enough to remember rock and roll as a performance art... Kiss and Queen are perfect examples. But, I really couldn't imagine myself listening to his music on my ipod. While I think his voice is flawless, it was too Broadway. And without the visuals, it just doesn't touch anything in me. The glam rock era is soooooo 70s.

Kris, on the other hand, is a musician/performer. And I gather he has written a few songs and will probably write more. I can definitely see him doing well in the radio format of this era, although the only place I listen to the radio is at work. I plug my ipod in when I drive, and any other time I choose to listen to music. As someone who loved the music of James Taylor and Jim Croce, among others, I love the way he feels the music and brings you along for the ride. His phrasing is impeccable. It's a subtle difference, but he makes you feel the emotion of a song without costumes, dry ice, spotlights and make-up. That translates well to recording, which is obviously NOT a visual artform.

Bottom line - if I were an AI voter, I would have voted for Kris because I would probably buy his music to listen to at home.

I admire all of the kids who put themselves out there on Idol because it isn't just a once a week gig - it's 24/7 critique and speculation thanks to the internet. Give Adam a break - he's basically telling you that he is what he is, he's not denying anything, and it is ridiculous that he should have to answer the obvious. Did anyone ask Kris if he's straight? No, because it's obvious. Why should a gay man be treated differently and asked those questions? Ridiculous.

I don't really get wanting to change the genders in songs or be in-your-face "out" as a performer. What does "out" mean? The the grand central thing in every song has to be the performer's sexuality? And then what? 14 year old girls don't fantasize over the dreamy rock-star or vote for him and it becomes homophobia?

As someone pointed out earlier, Kris is married. A big strong "hey, I'm *married* and *unavailable*" every time he gets up on stage would ruin the fantasy.

So he didn't do it.

What was Adam supposed to do? Instead of singing "Beth" was he supposed to sing "Chet, I hear you calling?" And if he'd changed the name from a girl name to a boy name, would he suddenly have transformed an exquisitely perfect and utterly soul-less rendition of the song into something that conveyed emotion?

I was telling my daughter about this (she doesn't watch the show either) and she finally said, "Oh, HIM. He's so stiff and uncomfortable." For me the goth-ish thing and sparkly eye liner and black emo-hair was distracting and off-putting. And while he has a fabulous voice, his voice itself seems to distract from the couple of songs that I've heard.

I think that Danny was probably better than Kris, but Kris is good too, even if his voice isn't a match for Adam... I wanted to hear Kris sing "Beth".

I only watched a bit of AI this year, but my wife and daughters followed it every week. They all liked Chris but thought Adam would win.

My quick impression was that Adam's costuming and makeup was like a mask allowing him (as a person) to be hidden from his audience. As a result, his performances did not seem to connect emotionally although in the jargon of the industry he has a great "instrument".

Kris, on the other hand, seemed to genuinely express the emotions he felt in music he sang. If that caused him to botch a note or two, it was ok because he stayed in character with the song.